Despite the comfortable bed, waking up the next morning was unpleasant. The far too hot night had shown its effect. My shirt was damp with sweat, my mouth dry. I desperately needed something to drink.
I got up and looked around the room, but no, no one had brought over some water bottles during the night. Hmm, if there was no water here, why didn’t I create some myself? I placed the water symbol in the air and held my hands under it while I activated it. Promptly, a small puddle appeared on my palm, which I emptied in one gulp. The water was pleasantly cool and tasted pure, no trace of a chemical aftertaste that one unconsciously expected from something that was artificially created. Wherever the water came from, it probably had nothing to do with chemistry. I definitely needed more of it, a vessel would be helpful for that.
My gaze fell on the dresser on the wall. Could something useful be found there? I pulled open the top drawer. The contents looked like bedding. The next drawer contained pajamas and some men’s underwear, and the rest was filled with women’s lingerie. I smirked at the sight of the lace trimmed underwear, the owner of the tower was probably not here just to work. The bottom drawer contained lots of socks. Well, it was nice to know where I could get fresh socks, but it didn’t solve my current problem.
If this was the bedroom, why wasn’t there an adjoining bathroom? What did the mage do when he had to pee at night? In the Middle Ages, toilets were usually located outside, but surely he wouldn’t want to walk that far? Was the bathroom perhaps on one of the ruined floors above? I bent down and looked under the bed. Aha! There hid an ornate copper chamber pot. Fortunately, the pot was empty, but drinking from it? No, that was out of the question!
I pulled the chairs off the trapdoor, opened it, and climbed down the stairs. Hot air came towards me, it became warmer and warmer the closer I got to the lava lake. Except for the broken window panes, this floor had remained intact. It was a kind of study or office. A large desk stood on one side of the room, with a comfortable-looking upholstered chair behind it. On the other side was a coffee table surrounded by four armchairs. Covering the wall behind it was a framed map that immediately caught my attention. The three-by-two-meter surface depicted a continent, surely the one I had landed on. Verda was written in curved lettering in the upper right corner. Behind the desk hung an object on the wall, the sight of which immediately made me think of a mage’s staff. About half a meter long, made of a finely patterned, white shimmering material, it had an almost spherical crystal at the upper end and a pointed red crystal at the lower end. Between the desk and the seating area, a chest-high cabinet made of light wood stood against the wall; above the cabinet, two brackets were attached to the wall, in which a long telescope lay.
I was primarily looking for a vessel, with or without water, in this respect, the cabinet looked most promising. When I had already reached out for the handle, I suddenly remembered that I was in a mage tower. In such a location, magical traps against thieves and burglars were quite conceivable. I should stop feeling at home. I withdrew my hand again and activated the Magic Gaze. Sure enough, a magical glow emanated from the upper part of the cabinet. It was the color of aquamarine, or you could call it ice blue. Would the cabinet freeze whoever opened it without authorization, or was it just a refrigerator? I was pretty sure it was the latter and opened the door.
As it looked, I had found the magician’s bar. In the refrigerated compartment (it was insane that the refrigeration still worked after 800 years!) was an almost full pitcher of a golden brown liquid and four glasses decorated with gold ornaments. On the unrefrigerated shelves below were china dishes and silver cutlery.
I grabbed one of the glasses and placed it on the desk, then placed the water symbol over it, wishing the glass would fill with water, and promptly my wish was granted. It was great to be a magician! I drank three glasses of water until my thirst was quenched, then continued to look around the room. The Magic Gaze was still active and showed several spots of magical activity. The telescope glowed white, the magic staff glowed a fiery red, but on the wall next to it was another magical spot that was the pale gold color of my mana. As I walked around the desk, I saw a drawer that also glowed pale gold. That might be more like a magical safeguard for valuables.
I glanced out the window. It was only a few feet to the ground; the floor below me had to be the first floor. As far as I could see, there were no fire salamanders around, and I wanted to complete my exploration of the tower by descending to the exit. Carefully, I lifted the trapdoor, blocking the stairs down and looked directly at the back of a fire salamander crossing the space below me toward the exit. In shock, the trapdoor had slipped from my grasp, but before it crashed down, I was just able to catch it and close it quietly. With my heart pounding wildly, I leaned against the wall. Phew, that had been close!
From the window, I watched the lizard make its meandering way away from the tower. The air seemed clear and I dared to lift the trapdoor a crack again. Whatever may have been on the first floor earlier was no longer there. The room was completely empty, the walls scorched by the fire. The exit door no longer existed, the door frame looked irregular, as if the stone around the doorway had melted and then solidified again shortly after. Apparently, the tower also had a basement, but there were no stairs leading down. The opening in the floor had been forcibly enlarged and the stairs replaced by a ramp of solidified lava. Had the fire salamanders done this? Was there their nest in the basement? Gently, I lowered the trapdoor again. If need be, I would be able to leave the tower through this exit, but I had to consider what I did afterwards. I had to gather more information about the magical lizards before I could make a plan.
A case of literary theft: this tale is not rightfully on Amazon; if you see it, report the violation.
For this, fate had provided me with the right instrument. I took the telescope from the wall brackets and looked at it more closely. It was made of a bronze-colored metal, but it felt too light for bronze. There was an engraving on the side. With difficulty I deciphered the squiggly writing: To my revered teacher as a token of thanks and admiration. It sounded like an expensive gift. I held the narrow end of the telescope to my eye and pointed it at the window opening. Wow! There was no sign of a restricted field of view, as I knew it from similar devices on Earth. The only difference from normal looking out the window was that the distant objects appeared much closer. The fire salamander that had just slid from the shore into the lava lake seemed within reach. Fascinated, I watched as the magical creature dove into the molten rock; it seemed to downright enjoy the deadly heat.
To get a better view, I dragged an armchair up to the penultimate floor of the tower and placed it in front of one of the wall openings, then made myself comfortable in it with the telescope. It was not so warm up here, a light breeze blew through the wall openings and made me even more comfortable. I searched the lava lake and the surrounding area and counted a good dozen of the lizards, some of which differed in size. The red patterns on their scaled black skin seemed unique. The bustle of the fire salamanders looked peaceful; I saw no signs of aggression. At one point, two lizards crossed paths, the smaller one stopping to let the other pass, then continuing on its way. Otherwise, they seemed to ignore each other for the most part. I wonder if they behaved the same way toward a human.
Assuming I got past the fire salamanders, where would I go? Was there an exit from the valley? I pointed the telescope at the surrounding mountains and looked for a pass. The spot at the western end of the valley looked promising; two mountain flanks met there, forming a narrow depression that I would certainly be able to follow without mountaineering equipment. A movement at the edge of the field of view caught my attention and I turned my head there. Two people were just emerging from the forest below the pass I had targeted and marching toward the tower. More followed until I looked in amazement at a group of about twenty people moving in my direction. Most of them wore uniform clothing and had luggage on their backs. They formed a circle, in the middle of which were three people dressed differently and walking around without a care in the world. They had to be the leaders.
Shortly after, the strangers crossed the open area and disappeared back into the forest. Who were these people and what were they doing here? Apart from the old tower, there was nothing conspicuous in the valley, so this was obviously their destination. Did they know about the fire salamanders? What would happen if they encountered them? After a bit of waiting, I would get the answers.
Since I could no longer watch the expedition, I climbed back down to the bedroom and lay down on the bed. It was time to take a closer look at the books from Annabel’s library. I activated the storage ring and pulled out all six volumes. The first book was quite a tome and thus lived up to its title. “Great Systematized Description of the Plant and Animal Life of Verda” was written on the cover. I leafed through it a bit. The quality of the articles seemed to vary greatly. Animals that the author had seen himself were described in detail, about others there was only what alleged eyewitnesses had told him, accordingly the information was reliable and complete. There was nothing at all about magical creatures, so my hope to learn something about the fire salamanders was not fulfilled. Disappointed, I put the book back in the ring.
The next volume was called “Historical Tales of the Verdanian Kingdoms.” 800-year-old history was not high on my priority list, so I put it away as well. The third book was written in the primordial language, so I had no idea what it was about. It followed the first two into storage. Was Annabel right when she spoke of boring books?
Listlessly, I turned over the next tome: “Introduction to Artifact Theory,” which sounded more interesting. The preface promised an explanation of the principles by which artifacts worked and instructions on how to make simple things like magic lamps. Thus, this work had clearly qualified for my reading list. Already somewhat motivated, I reached for the next book, whose title was “Dimension Magic: Possibilities and Limits.” I quickly found out that dimensional magic included such exciting topics as storage rings and portals, which were of burning interest to me not only as a magician but also as a physicist. But before I delved into it, I looked at the last volume, which was simply called “Magic in the World.” It seemed to be a book for children, and that was just fine with me. When it came to magic, I was as ignorant as a child. That would be the very first thing I would read.
The book began with the “Creation of the Elements”. The story was told in detail and in a flowery language, but in the quintessence Orthok had summarized the content correctly. I flipped through this part quickly. The next chapter dealt with different magical directions. In addition to elemental magic, which included the basic elements of fire, earth, air and water, as well as side branches such as ice, metal or lightning, there were the light and life magic. Dark and death magic were mentioned only briefly, as they were forbidden by First Mage Thelde. Order magic was considered the highest school of magic, quote because everything in the world follows an order. I smiled as I read this scientifically based rationale. But hey, it was a children’s book after all.
I got thirsty again in the warm room, so I put the book aside and went to the study, where I filled a glass with water and drank it up. As I did so, I took a closer look at the golden ornaments on the glass. They represented a flame that formed a kind of crown with its three tongues. In the tongues were three symbols of the original language, the first was the fire symbol, the other two I did not know. Were they the coat of arms and motto of the former tower owner? I took two glasses with me, one I put down next to the bed on the way up, the other I took to my lookout.
With the telescope at my eye, I searched the hillside where I had seen the expedition earlier. It didn’t take long for me to find them. They had crossed the forest and were now setting up camp in the meadow below. A magnificent big tent was already standing, around it, a row of plain smaller tents was being erected. The people knew their trade, in a few minutes, the construction was completed. Two of them came out of the forest, each carrying a large bundle of firewood on their backs. From the looks of it, they wouldn’t be going any further today. Thoughtfully, I watched as they lit two fires and began cooking. It was certainly no more than five kilometers from the camp to the tower.